Hawaii will always be blue and not ever purple.

They figure that a Democrat best exemplifies all the various methods and ways to express "mahalo" and Republicans will never put those pieces in place.

quote:

Originally posted by darthfuster:
Can you hear them cheering Brandon in the background? Let's go Brandon, let's go Brandon, Let's go Brandon!!!!

Not really, it was dubbed-in from another gathering. Irregardless, it was appropriate.

I was watching a Hawaii-local news cast, it was remarkably nauseating how much fawning and upbeat they were attempting to make POTUS' visit.

Funny how your not seeing Hawaiian flags in everyone profile pics.

It's possible (I'm hopefull) that Hawaii flips or, at the very least becomes purple. As others has posted, Hawaii outside of Oahu, is a poor, rural area, that some people would associate with not being of the US. If anybody has been to an Indian reservation, big swaths of West Virginia & Kentucky or, any shuttered factory town, big parts of Hawaii are very similar.

In order for a conservative candidate to win an election on the islands, particularly as a Republican, there's a number of hurdles to overcome, the biggest is the association of the GOP with the Hawaiian Big Five. They were the big land barons (technically oligarchs) that were responsible for the US taking over the islands; any association with them is persona non grata. For decades teh school system and universities have inculcated students that Republicans equal colonizers and subjugators.

The other hurdle in statewide elections, like NYC controls NY state, Oahu controls Hawaii, and Oahu is deep blue. You combine the seven other island's populations, they wouldn't equal half the number that live on Oahu. What's likely to happen, like we've seen across the country, are those rural areas, the non-metro parts start to incrementally turn red. Brandon may have handed the Hawaiian GOP a gift on a sliver platter, its up to them to not squander it with weak candidates and change the long-held narrative. Tulsi Gabbard for governor?

I'm certain that's the feeling on the ground there right now, but, time and again, those who vote Democrat have demonstrated that they do not behave rationally in this respect.

We shall see.

I’ve been there at election time. I was there during the last Presidential election as well. That whole election week, all over that island. Kahului, Wailuku, Kihei, Kaanapali, Kapalua, Kihei, name it. People with signs, some damn near jumping in front of your vehicle screaming at you to vote. And none of those signs were Trump signs. Reminded me of a bunch of screaming Karens. Never seen anything like that anywhere in this country before. And the mask stuff. If it was a 6 or 7 in TX, it was level 13 there. People were wearing masks on the beach not even close to other people. They were wearing it down the boardwalk in Kaanapali. It was so militant that it made our c19 rules at home look light. Until you got into, or around “locals” neighborhoods where none of them were having any of it.

And that’s the issue there it’s as woke as it gets. The pronouns, all of it. It’s not the Asian population (largest) or the Natives, it’s the woke whites. Many of those into “your energy” and “chakras” and all that bs. Kind of like this dystopian hippie thing. It’s everywhere. Emphatically Dem, militant about it too. I mean it’s so prevalent you can see it on the nightly news. Everything so PC, even on the news. PC capital of America. That place will go purple right about the time that NYC does.

On a positive note..when I’m there I go to Mass in Lahaina or Kapalua. The Parish in Lahaina, is literally a miracle of God. Most everything around it, including the Parish school behind it, burned to the ground. But the Parish in Lahaina (Maria Lanakila) was untouched, I mean not a mark on it. Monsignor Watanabe is moving forward with putting tiny homes on it to house the displaced, with water and sewer hookups.

quote:

Originally posted by parabellum:
What is it with these people?

[FLASH_VIDEO]<iframe frameborder="0" height="540" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/VwmRAw0Fvf4" title="Maui Police Chief Ordered Cops To Block Cars From Fleeing Fire Alleges Eyewitness." width="960"></iframe>[/FLASH_VIDEO]

That police chief is the same person who was in charge of the response and investigation of the Las Vegas shootings. He is the police chief and coroner in Lahaina. Witnesses have said that the police had one end of Front street blocked and the power company had the other side blocked. The power company largest share holders are Vanguard group and Blackrock. I think it is strange that the police cheif is also the coroner.

quote:

Originally posted by Ozarkwoods:
I think it is strange that the police cheif is also the coroner.

Around these parts, the sheriff is coroner. Not strange at all.

quote:

Originally posted by Gustofer:

quote:

Originally posted by Ozarkwoods:
I think it is strange that the police cheif is also the coroner.

Around these parts, the sheriff is coroner. Not strange at all.

So he performs autopsies, or is he just a paper shuffler that signs the death certificates?

The latter. Autopsies are performed by the state crime lab...or their designee.

Pretty large swaths of Maui are rural, not unusual for the sheriff to be the county coroner.

As for this chief...I think he's a fool. Getting competent people into govt positions in Hawaii is a toss-up, the vast majority are from the islands, their entire educational and professional experience is just Hawaii. Now this isn't any different from many local places but, because of Hawaii's isolation from others parts of the country, the sharing and interaction of ideas, methods and techniques from other parts of the county is limited. So not unusual to see certain key positions to be filled by somebody who's originally from the mainland, and the classic profile is this person is in the twilight of their career, and taking a position in Hawaii allows them to ease into retirement while living in paradise. Anybody who's spent time with any LE Department in the state, knows Hawaii LEO's are among the most under funded and resourced in the country; its not exactly a desirable position.

Prefontaine: the crowds standing on street and highway corners with signs yelling at commuters is just the way Maui does business, as I'm sure you know. When we lived there the Tea Party Maui was active, Alan Arakawa was mayor, county council was pro-business. We left before the pandemic and the takeover of politics by the Ohana coalition. I think all that tipped Maui over to plumb crazy.
But "public servants" were always not that; a county job was the best gig any Mauian could hope for. I did work with one Maui native pulmonologist (her family ran the pancake diner in Wailuku) who was lovely, gracious, bright, and funny. too bad I could never get her hooked up with my older son.

I know sj. A county job is still lusted over. One of my people there, he mentions it all the time. This or that person he knows got a county job. The way it’s described, it’s like winning the lotttery.

As far as the politics, yup, but it’s been this woke crazy bullshit for 5 years now, and every time I’m there it’s worse. Ohana coalition with the pronouns and PC bs, it’s just off the chain now. You can see the change on the nightly news as I mentioned before.

I was supposed to be going back for 3 weeks soon. I just don’t think it’s right. My Ohana want me to come but with everything going on? It’s home away from home. I don’t pay for flights or stay, and Costco is like maybe 10% more than home, so it’s not like I spend more on food, actually I spend less than home when I’m there as I don’t want to waste food on the island. So I buy less, eat less. I rent a vehicle from a locals spot. Old busted up vehicle, check engine light on, TPMS light on, maybe a headlight out but they always drive and get me around. It’s way cheaper than the majors too. I want to see my people but I just don’t feel right about going right now. Maybe the smart thing is to wait and go during my favorite time of the year in Jan/Feb. I just don’t know how much + or forward progress they’ll have made by then. I wouldn’t mind going to work though, and do some volunteer work the entire time and try to help.

SJ, I was going to move there too. Spent years on it. This was all before the pandemic. I was getting in on a new built subdivision up land a little from Wailuku proper. $650k. 2 car garage, about 1700 sq ft. Evaluating that vs buying a condo at 300-350k. I just make too much noise (still a DJ and need to practice loud) and too into MotorSports and owning a fast motorcycle/car there is completely pointless. Job was cool with it and that’s what made me nervous. The wind could change direction and my upper management could make remote people report back into the office, etc. I thought it better to hold off and I ended up buying some rural acreage on the mainland in a mountain range this past Spring. Turned out to be the right decision for me as a lot of Cali people sold their homes and moved to Maui during the pandemic and remote work and all that. Now those same people are being called back into the office and having to sell and relocate once again. Once the pandemic hit people were all festering at my job, moving, etc. I’m just too conservative. I think I made the right decision but I was so close to pulling the trigger on that house in Wailuku. New construction but the thing I couldn’t deal with is every neighbor having 4-6 cars/trucks parked out front. The lack of noise I could make, etc. And if I lost my job, yeah I could just see interviewing with employers and them seeing Wailuku as my location and figuring it out, getting jealous and saying F U, no hire. It just sucks because I have no family on the mainland. My closest people are on the island.

Our house was in Wailuku Heights on Kulaiwi, up from S Alu Street. Great house for us with 4 bedrooms, downstairs with big man cave/family room, great for guests. Close to hospital and clinic where I worked. Fantastic view-Kahului harbor on the left, Ma'alaia on the right, Haleakala right in front of us.
As long as the trade winds were blowing, we had Hawaiian AC with windows open on north and south sides. Paid nothing for heat or AC 'cause we had none.
When I retired, though, we found people had come once or twice, after that not so interested. So we moved to San Diego where we had our younger son, our daughter, and her husband. Then they had two little girls and that's what our world revolves around now.
We miss Maui, but we are sooooo damn happy we weren't there during the pandemic; and that I didn't have to work in hospital then. Most of our Tea Party Maui friends have moved to the mainland.
Yeah, I hear from friends how crazy the politics are now.
We found out that people like us who move from the mainland to work stay a few years and leave. If they have kids going to school, the schools are awful unless you get them in Seabury.
We never got Island Fever because I was working, we had lots of friends; we were involved in the slack key music community. When I stopped working I no longer had as much contact with locals who would invite me to everything--their music gigs, rodeo, axis deer hunting.
So it ws definitely time for us to go, and overall we're glad we did.
Funny thing is, because of Hawaii's tax laws favorable to retirees and low property taxes ($1100/year for a 4 bedroom house worth a million!), we could live much cheaper on Maui than in CA.
Prefontaine, you made the right decision. Maybe Maui locals will wise up after this man-made disaster, I sure wouldn't count on it. Mostly because so many businesses closed down during the pandemic and their owners left for the mainland. People left are hard core, it seems. We'll see.
Aloha, bra.

quote:

Originally posted by sjtill:
Prefontaine, you made the right decision. Maybe Maui locals will wise up after this man-made disaster, I sure wouldn't count on it. Mostly because so many businesses closed down during the pandemic and their owners left for the mainland. People left are hard core, it seems. We'll see.
Aloha, bra.

Thank you. Yeah it was a hard decision. And I still may end up there at some point but first is to get my Morton built on my land and get all the vehicles transferred up there and get the Morton completely finished out. That will take me years, maybe up to 5. But it’s cheap living there and I shouldn’t have a mortgage once that is complete. At that point I will revisit getting a condo on Maui and perhaps renting it out when I’m not there. I detest that though. Airbnb, and VR whatever, man it’s just sucks for the locals. They have a condo, that they cherish, and next door is some condo owner who rents it out and you know how visitors act when they are there. They do not respect the place at all. I remember when I could get a decent condo for 300k. The HOA bs, was crazy, but at least you could buy in. Now the condos are 500-550k. My heart is there but not my wallet and I don’t want to give up railing corners on 2 and 4 wheels. Only place to do it there is Haleakala, up and down, but you’ve got cyclists, the Haole tour busses. It’s doable but not enough. Every time I’ve done it I see the same guy in his Miata that lives there. I wave, he waves. There is so much about the place that I love, to the blood of my heart, but then you get into how things are done there, island time, the politics, oh the politics, it’s cringe. And you need a house and panels unless you want to get absolutely raped on kwh. I was so far down the rabbit hole on this I even had a storage unit I found on Big Island, 15 minutes north of the Airport where I could store a bike, tools, suit, etc so I could fly over once a month, ride for the day and get it out of my system, and fly back. Storage unit was mainland priced, like $65 a month. With work and the instability now, you’re right, probably made the right decision. But you lived there, it’s something that I’ll be wondering the rest of my life if I made the right call. I cannot describe the feeling at guard rails, catching my first wave, when I was learning, standing up, and riding it in. I got off the board, pointed at the sky, and made the holy trinity right in front of a local. He treated me 180 after he saw me do that. I was literally in tears. Is what it is though, like you said.

I had just one great run in my S2000 on the Hana Highway. Church men’s group was doing a retreat at the YMCA next to the Keanae Peninsula.
Half-way to Hana. NOBODY on the road, beautiful evening drive. Just perfect. Then the dusk and nightfall out on the water, zillions of stars, great company.
You remember those.

AP 1 or 2? I had the AP2.

This one—-which I still have—- is an AP2. I had an AP1; loved the scream to 9000. But this 2005, which I bought off an AF major reposted from Hickam to the Pentagon, is more comfortable and not as twitchy.

Worth a read of the entire statement at link provided.
Five key bullet points are listed below.

Government blames Hawaiian Electric Company.
Hawaiian Electric Company say’s hold on, our lines were de-energized six hours prior, cause of fire has not been determined.

Here I side with Hawaiian Electric Company, first determine cause of fire before placing blame.

Hawaiian Electric provides update on Lahaina fires, response

Link to Full Hawaiian Electric Company Statement.

• A fire at 6:30 a.m. (the "Morning Fire") appears to have been caused by power lines that fell in high winds.
  
  
• The Maui County Fire Department responded to this fire, reported it was "100% contained," left the scene and later declared it had been "extinguished."
  
  
• At about 3 p.m., a time when all of Hawaiian Electric's power lines in West Maui had been de-energized for more than six hours, a second fire (the "Afternoon Fire") began in the same area.
  
  
• The cause of the devastating Afternoon Fire has not been determined.
  
  
• The records conclusively establish that Hawaiian Electric power lines to Lahaina were not energized when the Afternoon Fire broke out shortly before 3 p.m. on Aug. 8, in a field near Lahaina Intermediate School. Power had been out for more than six hours by that time. There was no electricity flowing through the wires in the area or anywhere else on the West Maui coast. Hawaiian Electric has informed ATF investigators of the availability of records that demonstrate these facts.